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SI; International audience; Boosting the productivity of smallholder farming systems continues to be a major need in Africa. Challenges relating to how to improve irrigation are multi‐factor and multisectoral, and they involve a broad range of actors who must interact to reach decisions collectively. We provide a systematic reflection on findings from the research project EAU4Food, which adopted a transdisciplinary approach to irrigation for food security research in five case studies in Ethiopia, Mali, Mozambique, South Africa and Tunisia. The EAU4Food experiences emphasize that actual innovation at irrigated smallholder farm level remains limited without sufficient improvement of the enabling environment and taking note of the wider political economy environment. Most project partners felt at the end of the project that the transdisciplinary approach has indeed enriched the research process by providing different and multiple insights from actors outside the academic field. Local capacity to facilitate transdisciplinary research and engagement with practitioners was developed and could support the continuation and scaling up of the approach. Future projects may benefit from a longer time frame to allow for deeper exchange of lessons learned among different stakeholders and a dedicated effort to analyse possible improvements of the enabling environment from the beginning of the research process. © 2020 The Authors. Irrigation and Drainage published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Commission for Irrigation and Drainage

Appropriate soil fertility management plays an important role in irrigated systems and can contribute to reducing the yield gap. To that end, abiotic, biotic, management and socio-economic factors need to be considered and participatory approaches need to be implemented to ensure the sustainability of the interventions. Our objective is to analyse a participatory process conducted in the Chokwe Irrigation Scheme (Mozambique) to trigger agronomic innovation in soil fertility management. Through a method combining interviews with 31 farmers, soil sampling and the organization of communities of practice we studied actual agrarian practices and farmers' knowledge about soil fertility management as well as the social and physical context. This information was the basis for selecting an association in order to promote the innovation process. A participatory planning of the innovation test was conducted. The whole process was evaluated by farmers. Adoption of the majority of the practices is limited mainly by factors related to the socio-economic status of farmers and not to the lack of knowledge. Farmers did not highly value the participatory process itself, but valued the learning-by-doing process and the collaboration with researchers. We consider that the approach increased collective learning and this process triggered the innovation dynamics. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In large‐scale irrigation schemes built in flood plains the state of the drainage systems not only affects the performance of irrigation but also the quality of life of the population. However, maintenance of the drainage infrastructure is often neglected. This paper draws from two transdisciplinary interventions dealing with the maintenance of drainage infrastructure in the Chokwe Irrigation Scheme in Mozambique: one tested an experimental intervention that called on farmers and experts to solve local drainage issues. The other used a participatory mapping, modelling and simulation approach to discuss the barriers to upscaling different solutions at scheme levels. Managerial issues such as a good communication between actors, a good match between tasks and resources, and the scheduling of maintenance activities were important, but the most difficult challenge was addressing the underlying economic, social and political drivers that affected the relationships between actors and consequently their willingness to cooperate. Thus, the development of perennial solutions calls for (re)internalization of the social and political dimensions in scheme management and to rethink the issue of equity not as a moral injunction but as a condition for irrigation success.

Large‐scale irrigation schemes, which are often developed in flood plains, overvalue technical expertise and the control of natural hazards and are particularly vulnerable to flooding, but there has been limited study on the impact of floods on irrigation functioning. Using a transdisciplinary approach developed in the Chokwe Irrigation Scheme during the 2013 post‐flood recovery period, we analysed the impact of flooding on the scheme with a focus on maintenance. We argue that the flood crisis provided windows of opportunity to reconsider maintenance procedures by rethinking the relations and responsibilities between actors in this large‐scale irrigation scheme; but the robustness of the system can only be increased if the changes strengthen the collective action capacity.

The high nutritional value of amaranth grain makes it attractive for the diet of rural people living in dry semi-arid areas of southern Mozambique. A study was implemented with Amaranthus hybridus and A. tricolor in sandy soil aiming to assess (1) the effect of different watering regimes (80%, 50% and 20% of total available water) on reproductive stage and grain crude protein content of the two species during the rainy and dry seasons, and (2) the effect of day length and minimum temperature on the time to flowering. Six field trials were conducted in Maputo in a randomised complete block design with a 2 × 3 factorial layout with six replications. This study revealed that panicle and internode lengths as well as straw and grain yields of both species decrease when the soil water content decrease. Conversely, the time to flowering and the grain crude protein contents were unaffected by the water deficit. The onset of flowering was significantly delayed by long days. The highest grain yield and harvest inde...

Drought-tolerant crops with high nutritional value such as amaranth leafy vegetables have the potential to improve the diet of rural communities in dry semi-arid areas of southern Mozambique. A study was conducted aiming to assess the vegetative growth and leaf nutritional content of Amaranthus hybridus and A. tricolor when subjected to different watering regimes (80%, 50% and 20% of total available water) during the rainy and dry seasons, and ascertain the relationship between temperature and day length affecting the leaf yield of the two species. Six field trials were conducted in a randomised complete block design with 2 × 3 factorial layout with six replications in Maputo. Vegetative growth was sensitive to soil water at 50% and 20% of available water. However, the leaf and side-shoot number, leaf area and yield were less sensitive to short-interval water deficits during the rainy season. Leaf calcium and crude protein contents were higher at low water levels. Leaf yield was significantly affected by ...

The performance and cost-efficiency of off-season small-scale irrigation in arid and semi-arid areas of sub-Saharan Africa can be optimised by means of off-season rainwater harvesting irrigation management (RWHI), which is a subset of rainwater harvesting technologies and practices that allows concentrating and storing rainwater to be used for off-season small-scale irrigation of high-value crops in arid and semi-arid areas. A RWHI system has three main components, i.e. rainwater/runoff collection catchment, rainwater/runoff storage facility, and a low-cost irrigation system that applies water to the crop area during dry periods. Best practices for RWHI management at household level are upgraded on-farm ponds and/or low-cost roof catchments connected to manual pumping systems and low-cost drip irrigation kits. Total costs for storage capacities of 50–100 m3 range from 1000 to 3000 USD and present cost-efficiencies of 26–50 USD/m3 of irrigated water. At community level, hillside earth dams, rock catchments, alluvial shallow groundwater, subsurface dams and sand storage dams can be connected to mechanised/manual pumping systems and low-cost drip irrigation kits. RWHI systems which use subsurface dams made of soil present the highest cost-efficiency (3 USD/m3 of irrigated water). Further, RWHI technologies are clearly site-specific. Therefore, replication and scaling-up needs to strictly consider multi-dimensional physical and hydrogeological suitability factors coupled with the cost-efficiency and specific technical considerations of the technologies and practices. In addition, the technical and financial capability of the beneficiaries coupled with the revenue potential of the RWHI systems plays a crucial role in the replication of RWHI technologies.